For those in Time Check, next week's flooding is too close for comfort

Many spent Friday moving items out of homes, businesses

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A Johnson County Secondary Road Department truck arrives with more dirt as a Cedar Rapids city worker fills voids in the levy along First Street NW in preparation for the projected Monday crest of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Mike Olson of Cedar Rapids loads plants from Pierson’s on Ellis Boulevard NW into a horse trailer in preparation for the projected Monday crest of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Cody Decker of Dubuque carries a pot to a cattle trailer while helping move out items from Pierson’s Flower Shop with other members of Plumbers and Pipefitters 125 in preparation for the projected Monday crest of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Workers from Rathje Construction move a HESCO flood barrier into place at the corner of Ellis Boulevard and Penn Avenue NW in preparation for the projected Monday crest of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Lois Jennings of Cedar Rapids (left) and former neighbor Jim Cummins, now of Shellsburg, help move items out of the home of Jennings’ brother, Pat Sedlacek, on Penn Avenue NW in preparation for the projected Monday crest of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Jim Cummins, now of Shellsburg but formerly a resident of the Time Check neighborhood, helps move items out of the home of Pat Sedlacek on Penn Avenue NW in preparation for the projected Monday crest of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Xavier High School freshman Brooklyn Coate and sophomore Claire Delaney work as part of a group moving items from a home on Penn Avenue NW in preparation for the projected Monday crest of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Todd Schmitz of Cedar Rapids (left) and Vance Schumacher of Cedar Rapids move items out of McKinnon’s Squire Barber Shop and Ellis Spoke in preparation for the projected Monday crest of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. The shop on Ellis Boulevard NW, owned by Larry McKinnon, reopened after flooding in 2008. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Todd Schmitz of Cedar Rapids hands a board of antique tools to Larry McKinnon at McKinnon’s Squire Barber Shop and Ellis Spoke in preparation for the projected Monday crest of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. The shop on Ellis Boulevard NW, owned by Larry McKinnon, reopened after flooding in 2008. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

CEDAR RAPIDS — Blue lights dot the streets in the Time Check neighborhood on Cedar Rapids’s northwest side. The porch lights are a symbol of those who came back and rebuilt after the 2008 flood — an event that was hitting very close to home on Friday.

Homeowners and businesses were packing up their belongings, getting ready to evacuate before the Cedar River’s projected crest of 25 feet on Monday.

“It’s surreal,” said Al Pierson, owner of Pierson’s Flower Shop and Greenhouses, 1800 Ellis Blvd. NW. “There have been a lot of different emotions — fear, anger, depression. Anger that we don’t have flood protection yet. People fought it, they said it’d never happen again.”

Pierson had three trailers, a semi-truck and several vans sitting outside his shop Friday morning. Volunteers — friends, family, union members and students from Jefferson High School — were packing up merchandise and moving plants.

He plans to move items to his Blairs Ferry location, keep those in the trailers and semi-parked in a parking lot, and relocate his servers and systems to his home. He started putting the plan together on Thursday, he said, when he first got word on next week’s flooding.

“But really, it’s been in the back of my head since ’08,” he said. “We expected a foot of water — we got eight.”

Across the street at Nancy Waybill’s house, she had friends and even some strangers helping pack up her belongings.

The 80-year-old, who lives right along the river, said in 2008, the water rose over her cabinets, destroying almost everything. She chose to rebuild the house rather than sell her property to the city last time, she said. But if next week’s flood causes too much damage, she likely won’t rebuild a second time.

“Not again,” she said. “Not again.”

Trailers, U-Hauls and cars lined the driveways of homes throughout Time Check as residents piled their belongings into bags and bins, having friends and family help move furniture. City workers, meanwhile, were setting up HESCO barriers — collapsible wire mesh barriers — along Ellis Boulevard.

John Eige, who lives on M Avenue NW, was packing items and moving them onto his camper. Friends were arriving later in the day to help the 71-year-old. In 2008, he said, water reached the middle of the street sign outside his house. His wife died two months before the flood and he then had to rebuild after losing everything.

“I was kind of in shock,” he said, explaining how hard it was to throw things away. “It’s your life, your time, your money.”

Amy Vega learned hard lessons after 2008, she said. She moved the items out of her basement onto the first floor of her home along Ellis Boulevard. But that did little, she said, when the water came — a wall collapsed and she lost just about everything.